TVNewsCheck's Diana Marszalek interviewed Tribune's new news chief Katherine Green about the company and NewsFix on KIAH 39 Houston and KDAF 33 Dallas-Fort Worth came up...and it appears the new boss likes the concept:
You inherited some of the more offbeat news shows out there — NewsFix, the anchorless newscast on KIAH Houston, and the syndicated morning show Eye Opener. Are those models for other markets, or are there other non-traditional formats in the works?
We have these two formats, Eye Opener and NewsFix, which took big risks and I think we really owe it to those products to look at them closely and figure out how we can increase the audience for them.
NewsFix and Eye Opener are fascinating, and I like watching them to see how we can deliver information in a different way. Not everything needs to be done with two anchors and a desk. But when I say that it doesn’t mean that you get rid of those things, but understanding that we’re looking for something more interesting, more distinctive than the traditional model.
We have some newscasts where they are taking down the boundaries. The [WGN] Chicago morning show for example has real people with real lives who have a sense of humor but can also be serious. They are people who let their hair down a little bit.
Sometimes it feels like the people behind the news are behind the Plexiglas screen and I think that we should be all in this together. But I am not the person behind all the ideas. It’s really more about how do we give [the stations] permission to move forward without trying to be gimmicky.
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Eye Opener's Maggie Flecknoe wins!
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